Do You?

Do you hover on the surface of your day?
Or do you delve right in?
Do you tip-toe fearfully
Waiting on its fringe?
Or do you live it to the full
Do you laugh and cry
Love and hate, whisper, yell
Or does it just pass by
Do you hug, kiss, weep, let go
Do you work and play
Sometimes quickly, sometimes slow
Oh, and do you pray?
Do you try and do you stumble
Do you celebrate your joy?
Do you sing or do you grumble
Do you build or just destroy
Do you hurt and do you love
Do you bear love’s silent sorrow?
Do you see the stars above?
Or are your thoughts upon tomorrow
Do you take a faith-leap chance?
Or hide in some dark shadow
Oh, and tell me, do you dance
In summer’s fleeting meadow
Do you live or just exist?
Each day a span of hours…
Tell me, have you been kissed
And do you smell the flowers?

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Lemon-flavored Night

Suddenly
The half-moon lemon
Sweetens on the tip of my tongue
Tangy, free
Like summer’s heaven
A sparkling mystic love song
The flaws
In noon day’s sun
Are much less vivid now
As dawn
And dusk become one
In muted moonlight’s glow
I sip
The bloom-scented sigh
Of midnights laughing breeze
Exotic
Nectar from the sky
Pouring through the trees
Lemon-
Flavored summer
From a white cup unrestrained
Heaven
I lift my hands up
To catch the warm summer rain

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

I Love Your Hands

Your hands……
Spreading butter on your toast
Taking a cup of coffee from my hand
Your hands….
One of the things I cherish most
I study them
As you hold the morning paper
Sip your java
I absorb you…..
Your down-cast eyes
The strong chin and neck
Then I realize
In the end
I return
To your hands
For which I yearn
When you are near
Or far away
Your hands……
Holding the pen
While writing
Words
Touching me
Like no spoken sentiment ever can…
For so much more is heard
From script of pen
Held in your hand
Turning the ordinary
Into extra-ordinary again….
And again
Darling I love your hands
With them you
Love…
Me
Satisfying with mournful sweetness
My solitary anguish......
Life and love
A matter of hands
I love to study your hands
Over breakfast
Intertwined with mine

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Disguise

Pardon me when you’re not looking
I still turn a somersault in my back yard
For the sake of my children I try to act my age
But sometimes it is just too hard
What’s a girl to do, tell me?
For I have tried in vain
Why am I over forty
But sometimes I feel just like a kid again

The rippling fields of amber
Taunt me as I pass and call my name
If I should decide to run or hide in them
I don’t think I really am to blame
I try hard to be a lady
If I don’t I know society would frown
But I will never tell you
What I do when no one is around

Pardon me, when you’re not looking
I don’t really need to act my age
And after all, age is a number
Just a couple random digits on a page
Being old and sedentary
Is a thought that simply tears me apart
Oh I try to be a lady
But the truth is sometimes.....
I'm still a kid at heart

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Dilemma......

If I were not a poet.....
...I would weep
But if I were not a poet
I COULD SLEEP:):)

~Janet~

At 1 A.M.

It’s 1 a.m.
My today is really yesterday…
And my tomorrow is today
In this hour
The best hour of all
When shadows fall
Unbroken
Save for the flicker
Of the green willow limb
Waving lazily in the moonlight dim
At 1 a.m.
When the earth slumbers
And the heavens reveal
In dazzling silence
Gems of countless number
Which none can steal
But man can only wonder
What lies beyond?
The great unknown
Between earth
And the great white throne
At 1 a.m.
Where solitude is unhindered
By yesterdays left-over’s
Or tomorrows mysteries
An hour for vagabonds
And lovers
And poets….
Disregarding the steady ticking
Of minutes plunging into history
At 1 a.m.
Let the silver cloud
Then drift across the full moon
It enhances the beauty
Of midnight’s noon
For this hour is
A glorious gem
On a bed of navy blue
With soft charcoal hem
Glistening with dew
At 1 a.m.

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

July Bliss

I’m not smiling or laughing………..
Yet I am blissfully content
It is July, the heaven of summer
‘Simply being’ each moment is spent

Have you felt the quivering ripple?
Of her soft alluring kiss
Radiating every heart-beat
In pure extravagant bliss

Suddenly there is no ordinary
As you open up your eyes
To seize her rampant passion
Flowing from the skies

I dare not breathe too deeply
Yet still I must inhale
The purple of her slumber
Enhanced by moonlight pale

It manifests within me
A visceral sensation
Of joy sublime, unearthly
Pinnacle of elation

So drink in each moment of pleasure
Oh, how sweet it is
As summer’s sigh unravels
In July, the hour of bliss

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin

Summer-time......

Turn down the window, turn off the air
Come on let the wind blow through your hair
Crank up a good old summer-time tune
‘Cause you and I both know summer’s gone too soon

Summer-time, ah, summer-time
It’s all good in the summer-time
I like the sun, oh and I like the rain
If I could when it’s over I’d hit re-play again….
I’m just a woman and you’re just a man
Let’s make the most of it while we can
In the summer-time, ah, good old summer-time

I smell the fever of fresh mown hay
I’m a believer in no work today
The sweet fields of honey will soon be gone
Ah, we can make money when the summer is done

Summer-time, ah, summer-time
It’s all good in the summer-time
Blue surf and white sand
Green turf and brown tan
Flip-flops and tank tops
Lemonade and cool shade
Good days and better nights
Dancing in the warm moon-light
Fire-flies and starry skies
We’ll stay up until sun-rise
I’m just a woman, you’re just a man
Making the most of each minute we can
In the summer-time, ah, good old summer-time

Oh, and did I mention bare-feet in the water?
How the sun gets your attention as the day gets hotter
Mid-night flower gardens sweet, sweet paradise
Oh, I beg your pardon, is that hunger in your eyes?
Did I mention bird and cricket in a summer symphony?
The soft and yellow sighing of the big old willow tree
In the summer-time, ah the good old summer-time


Tick-tock, the old clock eats up another day
That greedy miser is stealing my summer away……

Summer-time, ah, summer-time
It’s all good in the summer-time

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin